The legend of tea tree oil or the oil produced from the Melaleuca Alternofolia, has been passed down for thousands of years by the native indigenous Bundjalung aborigines of Australia. These Bundjalun ancient people believed a whole host of interesting things, including the idea that the spirits of wounded warriors were present within mountains and that battle injuries were evident by the deep scars in the mountainsides. There are legends of at least one “magical” lake where the leaves of the tea tree had been falling for hundreds of years and that the mud became saturated with the tea tree oil.

During WWII, tea tree oil was issued in first aid kits to military units in tropical regions. The common name was coined in the 1770’s when Captain Cook and the crew used the leaves as a substitute for ordinary tea describing it as spicy and refreshing. One version of the story is that Cook discovered tea tree when he landed on the shores of Mercury Bay, New Zealand; however, this legend is difficult to substantiate.

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About Tea Tree:

Tea tree oil is a remarkable healing agent and one of the most thoroughly researched of all the essential oils. Tea trees belong to the Melaleuca and the trees in the genus are commonly known as paperbarks or honey myrtles. There are many species including the weeping tea tree from which cajuput essential oil is produced. Although all of these oils share similar properties, tea tree is the most favourite by aromatherapists and manufacturers of natural antiseptic creams., spot clearing lotions, toothpastes and shampoos. It has superior healing properties and is less likely to irritate sensitive skin. Native to the state of New South Wales in Australia, Tea Tree is a small shrubby tree, growing up to 7m in height.

It has narrow leaves and bears cream bottlebrush-like bark peels easily from the trunk, and it was once used extensively by aboriginal people to make small canoos, knife sheaths and thatch. Captured by steam distillation of the leaves, tea tree oil is colourless, though it sometimes has a tinge of green. For many years tea trees were hacked and burned by New South Wales dairy farmers who discovered that nothing less than grubbing out the extensive root systems would prevent regeneration of the branches and leaves. While settlers have battled to destroy every tea tree in sight, they were always willing to use the crushed leaves in poultices to heal infected wounds. The trees recuperative powers are astonishing, however, and trees which were cut to nothing but a stump are flourishing again.